During construction projects, bulk materials such as dirt, gravel, and the like must be removed and deposited at the construction site. For example, often dirt must be removed from a site during excavation for a foundation. Gravel is then often dumped at the site and compacted to form a stable substrate for the foundation.
Conventionally, dump trucks are used to remove the dirt and deposit the gravel at the site. Dump trucks are high capacity vehicles that have a truck bed that may be tilted to dump the contents from the bed quickly and efficiently. In the example give, a loader would commonly be used to load dirt onto the truck during the excavation process. The truck will then take the dirt to a dumping location where the excavated dirt is to be deposited. The truck will then dump the excavated dirt at the dumping location. Gravel will normally be loaded onto the truck by an overhead conveyor or hopper. The truck will then take the gravel to the construction site and dump the gravel at the desired location.
To improve efficiency, dump trucks often tow a trailer that supports what will be referred to as a trailer bed. The trailer bed allows the truck to transport approximately twice the amount of dirt or gravel as a truck without a trailer bed. Conventionally, the trailer bed is loaded while on the trailer and dumped by transferring the trailer bed to the truck bed and then tilting the truck bed as described above.
The need exists for improved dump truck systems and methods that may be easily loaded and unloaded and can carry large loads during each trip.
The term “bulk material” will be used herein to refer to any material that may be loaded onto, transported by, and dumped from a dump truck of the kind to which the present invention relates. The term “desired location” will be used to refer to the precise point at which material is to be deposited, while the term “transfer site” will be used to refer more broadly to the general area surrounding the desired location.